


A Pickpocket and A Knitter

by DoodleBiscuit



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Family Fluff, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Mabel makes Stan happy, Protective Stan Pines, Stan's trying his best here, Time stuck au, Young Stan Pines, mullet stan, paternal instincts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:28:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26534377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoodleBiscuit/pseuds/DoodleBiscuit
Summary: Classic Time Stuck Au, Mabel gets trapped in the past and meets Young Grunkle Stan. Hijinks ensue.Did I get hyper fixated on Gravity Falls in 2020? yes, yes I did. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Relationships: Stanley Pines & Mabel Pines
Comments: 11
Kudos: 45





	1. "You think you've got it bad? I've got a mullet, Stanford!!"

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Five Minutes Older](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4873306) by [thesnadger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesnadger/pseuds/thesnadger). 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel meets mister Mullet.

It was a relatively quiet day for the likes of Gravity Falls. If it wasn’t filled with the mysterious growling coming from the shadows in the woods or the quiet scampering of the gnomes, the quiet was usually filled with Grunkle Stan leading the newest tour group throughout the shack. Somehow Mabel had stumbled onto one of those quiet days. With Dipper off doing something with Grunkle Ford, she uncharacteristically had the day all to herself. Summer was almost to its end, the twins would be traveling back to their parents’ house in only a few weeks. Mabel decided to keep herself occupied by taking a walk to town, a thing she had done many times before. She carried a backpack of snacks in case she got hungry in town. To keep herself occupied, she played an imaginary game of hopscotch down the path and without looking tripped over something lying in the street.

She wasn’t able to catch herself in time and stumbled into the concrete. Thankfully she didn’t hit the ground hard enough to break any skin. She looked behind her and saw something lying in the dust. 

“Hey, it’s one of those time machine thingies” Mabel stood up and brushed herself off before walking to the time machine. She reached for the device. For some reason the machine had it’s tape already pulled out to a date. Gingerly, she picked it up and traced the tape all the way to the base of the tape measure. She squinted at the date it had been pulled to and slowly tapped her finger on it. 

“1979? Huh,” Sticking her tongue out, she fiddled with the tape trying to make it become unstuck. “If I could just fix it, I could return it to that time guy…” She wiggled it with more force. She heard a faint clicking noise in the mechanism and without warning the tape snapped back into place, catching Mabel’s finger. She pulled her hand back fast, shaking it in the air.  
“Ow!” She stuck her hand in her mouth and sucked on it to alieve the pain. “Stupid time thing..” 

Wait. Why is it dark all of a sudden? She slowly lifts her head up and her eyes widen as she takes in the world around her. She stands in a dark alley, where the smell of fresh rain still lingers in the air. Ahead of her lies a barren street with a lone street light shining down. A single car passes by and the headlights glide across her face. Shaking her out of her trance. This definitely doesn’t look like Gravity Falls. 

“Oh nononono-” She looks down at the device in her hands and frantically tugs on the tape. ”Grunkle Stan is gonna kill me.”

It pulls only a few centimeters before pulling back in. She keeps tugging as looks fearfully around her surroundings. She grabs the tape and pulls as hard as she can, hoping the tape will come loose. A low whirring starts up from the device suddenly sputters when the tape measure sends out sparks. Mabel suddenly drops as it burns her hands. The time machine clatters to the ground and sends out more sparks before finally dying out. Tears gather in her eyes threatening to spill out but she steels herself, taking a shuttering breath in and out. She carefully leans down and pokes the time machine, making sure not to burn herself. She gingerly picks it up and unzips her backpack to put it inside. Thankfully an extra sweater was already packed so she used that to wrap it up so no more damage would come to it. Zipping it back up, she swings it up and over her shoulder. 

“Alright Mabel, nows not the time to freak out. W-We need to figure out where we are and then go from there, hopefully not too far from home,” She starts to walk forward out of the alley. “Or when we are.” She halfheartedly chuckles to herself. She makes it to the end of the alley and peeks out onto the street. Thankfully not seeing any shady characters she makes her way down the street. 

“Okay, what would Dipper do?” She makes a face before continuing as a horrible imitation of Dipper, “Well, we should start by finding someone we trust to help.”

Mabel considers her impromptu advice and presses her lips together as she thinks. She even sticks her hand underneath her chin to stroke it thoughtfully, Her eyes glaze over the scenery before her as she continues to walk along the street.

“Mmm, well…” Mabel scans the street carefully making a note of each trustworthy person she sees… which seems to be no one… as no one is actually out here. A familiar gleam catches the side of her eye. In a far off parking lot, a red sedan is parked that looks suspiciously like the one Grunkle Stan drives. Getting excited, she runs over to the car and sure enough, the license plate is “STNLYMBL”.

Mabel gets giddy and excitedly claps her hands together. If Stan is here then surely he can help her get back home. Wait. What time did she get to sent to again? 1987? 1982? Well, even if she wasn’t technically born yet Stan should still feel that niece, Grunkle connection right? And if not she’ll just persuade him into loving her, she is America’s sweetheart after all. She reaches for the car handle and pulls on it. It doesn’t budge. She tugs on it some more and after a while, she gives up. Hmpf. How was she supposed to get into his car without the key? She strokes her chin as she thinks. She lights up as she remembers that one of the handles is faulty and if you turn it to a specific angle, it’ll open up. She goes to the back right door and twists it down about 47 degrees. She hears a click as it unlatches. Thank the lord for Stan being lazy even way back when. She hefts herself into the back seat and pulls the door closed behind her.  
Now to wait for Stan. 

Well, that was a letdown. All this time spent and he couldn’t even get the simplest of backhanded tricks past those idiots. Luckily the fates were on his side tonight and although he didn’t make more than he had, he thankfully didn’t lose more. He frowned at the coins he was haphazardly tossing in his hand. This wasn’t gonna cut it for a stay in a hotel, looks like another night in his car it is. Digging in his pocket, he fishes out his keys and lets the money in his hand fall back into his pocket. Stan fiddles with the keys for a bit before placing them into the lock. Turning them slightly, he unlocks the car and slides in. Shutting the door with a soft click, he lets out a breath. He haphazardly reaches for the car mirror and turns it to reflect himself. His eyes glance over his ragged face and his horrible haircut that society called a mullet. He runs a hand down his face, feeling all of the cuts and scruff that had begun to grow on his chin. A flash of pink in the backseat catches his eye. He freezes and his head slowly begins to turn towards the back of his car. 

“HELLO!” Suddenly, a head pops up from the dark backseat. 

“AHHHHHH!!” Stan’s hand reaches for the nearest weapon and his hand finds purchase on a bat. He raises it above his head, ready to swing. Now it’s time for Mabel to scream. 

“AHHHHHH, HEY, HEY, -NONONO, DON’T DO IT, MULLET GUY!” She throws her hands up in front of her face. 

Hearing the screaming and seeing the face of young girl made Stan pause. He wasn’t going to actually swing but he kept it above his head for leverage - he still didn’t know why or how she was in his car. 

“How’d you even get in here!” He yells back to the girl. 

Stan clearly didn’t know who she is. Her eyes travel across his face, taking in how young he looked, although looking more tired than she had ever seen her Great Uncle. But he was definitely still Stan. “ I uhh... o-one of the handles is broken! You can get in if you t-turn it a certain way!” 

Stan’s eyes glance to the handle she was talking about. He really needed to get that fixed. He looks back at the girl. 

“Well, get out! Go find your parents or something!” 

Mabel laughs nervously. If Grunkle Stan doesn’t know who she is, then surely her parents don’t either. Who was she was kidding, how was Stan even gonna help her if she wasn’t even born yet. She has no one to go too. “ I can’t”. 

“What do you mean “you can’t”?”

Mabel looks into Stan’s eyes as tears gather in hers. “I-I can’t” she chokes out.

He knows that look. Stan is thrown back into when he was kicked out as a kid, he sees himself in her shoes. Nobody ever gave him a helping hand, maybe he should be the one too change that cycle. Plus she was only a little kid, a lot younger than he was, when he left home. His hard outlook softens and his grip on the bat loosens. He lays it down next to him on the seat. They both sit in silence for a while.

Stan sighs. “Look, kid. I know it’s late and I won’t make you leave-,” Mabel brightens at the statement.

“Oh my gosh! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You won’t regret it!” She bounces up from her seat to give him a tight hug. 

Stan couldn’t remember the last time someone gave him a hug, its probably been at least ten years since then. He never was really good with the whole wear your emotions on your sleeve thing. 

“Heh, heh, kid. I, uh, like your spunk” He pulls her off of him awkwardly and sets her back in the seat. “But tomorrow we’ve got to find someone else to take better care of you”.

Mabel seems to ignore the last comment and continues to swing her legs off the seat cushions, beaming up at Stan. He turns back to the front of the car, gripping the wheel. 

He tilts his head back a bit to see her out of the corner of his eye. “What’s your name anyways kid?” 

She looks at him confused for a moment as if she couldn’t believe he had asked her that question. 

“...oh yeah... he doesn’t remember me” she mumbles. 

“What, kid?” Stan fiddled around the keys before finally placing them into the ignition. The car shuttered to life. This spot was too out in the open to sleep in, he needed somewhere that had a little bit more security. 

“Oh, haha, it’s Mabel, yeah… Mabel” She preoccupied herself with looking at her fingers. 

The car began to back out of its spot and stan laid his arm on of the back of the seat to see better out of the back window. He flashed her a show winning smile. 

“You can call me Stan, Kid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter coming out soon!! 6 pages of writing looks a lot smaller in ao3, I really thought I wrote a lot for the first chapter...
> 
> This story will be self-indulgent as heck. Hope y'all enjoy!!!


	2. "Hey, I found two tacos!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel finds tacos and Stan takes up the role of impromptu guardian.

After a bit of driving, Stan found a good spot on the side of the road in a nice-looking neighborhood. It would be out of the way from the nightly patrols of cops and relatively quiet, which was a win-win for Stan Pines. The car slowly shuttered to a stop. 

“Alright kid, we’ll be staying here for the night.” Stan rummaged through the junk on the floor of his car to find a raggedy blanket he stashed away for nights in the car. After shaking off the trash, he threw the blanket over his shoulder to the back seat.

“Here, you can have this,” The blanket hit Mabel in the face with a small oomph. 

Mabel held it up, examining the handiwork of it. Stan glanced back and cringed at the sight of it. He never really realized had bad it had become, he never really cared, but with it against the backdrop of a bright girl, who deserved better, it looked disgusting.

Stan rubbed the back of his neck, looking to the side. “Hey, sorry about the blanket. I know it’s not the best, but it’s all I’ve got-”

“No, it’s perfect! The holes just means it has personality.” Mabel beams back up at him. She holds the blanket closer to her chest. “Thank you, Stan!”

Stan gave small smile back to her. “Okay, kid. Get some shut-eye”. 

Mabel pushed her backpack into the corner and fluffed it up to give it some dimension. After a few pats, she deemed it worthy as a substitute pillow and flopped down. She curled up her legs and snuggled into the blanket. 

“Good night!” 

Stan mumbled half-heartedly. “Good night”. 

Stan fell back onto his makeshift bed. He lets out a soft groan and throws an arm over his face. What had he gotten himself into? Even if the kid was telling the truth, and really had nowhere else to go, he would probably be charged with kidnapping or something stupid like that and he’ll be locked up for another 3 years. He shouldn’t have even allowed the kid to stay in his car, but with the way she looked at him made him crumble. He really was losing his hard outlook on the world. In the morning, even if it made him feel like shit, he would turn the girl into the police and hightail it out of there before they could recognize him. Plus, he rationalizes, the girl had braces, surely her parents wouldn’t go through all that trouble just to throw her out. The police will know what to do and he wouldn’t have a little girl’s problems on his hands anymore. 

Stan awoke to a bright shining face way too close to his own. To say that he had a mini heart attack was downplaying the truth. 

“Shi-oot kid, you scared the heck out of me” He had nearly let that curse slip. 

Mabel had the goofiest smile plastered on her face with the blanket Stan had given her last night looped around her head and tied at the chin. The holes in it had tufts of her hair sticking through. Stan slowly sat up, silently cursing the ache in his back from sleeping on the hard cushions for the entire night. He squinted at her. 

“You sleep a lot” Mabel made a face of disgust, “And apparently drool a lot too.”

Stan gave a grunt and wiped away the drool that had started to seep down the side of his chin. 

“What time is it?” Stan posed the question more to himself than anyone. 

“Um, I don’t know… bright enough…” Mabel gets distracted by a butterfly passing by the window. 

“You, uh, sleep good?” Stan watched as Mabel’s eyes closely followed the butterfly’s movements outside the window. It took a moment before Mabel responded. 

“Yeah! I even found some secret tacos stuck between the cushions this morning!” 

Stan cringed. He can’t even remember there being tacos back there in the first place. Mabel seemed perfectly oblivious to the fact that she should be puking her guts out due to how old those must’ve been. 

“Yeah… that’s nice, kiddo”. He turned towards the front of the car, placing his hands on the wheel. 

“Let’s go on an early morning trip, yeah?” He makes a grim face as he puts the keys in the ignition. 

She pats the back of his seat rapidly. “Oooh, where are we going?” 

The door opened with a full view of the Police Station lying in front of her. She looked at in confusion, before the situation dawned on her. 

“No, no, please!” She scrambles to the other side of the car. She definitely couldn’t go to the police station, they definitely didn’t know how to fix a time machine. And when she got in there, it would be incredibly hard to escape again. Although he didn’t show it, Mabel knew he was smart, he had rebuilt an entire portal for goodness sakes! And if he couldn’t help her, she needed to go to Great Uncle Ford. But she couldn’t get there on her own and Stan was the only family she had right now. If she wanted to get back home, she needed Stan. 

Stan grew nervous as he saw the passersby give him funny looks. Man, she really didn’t like the cops, almost as much as he didn’t. This was drawing way more attention than he needed. 

“C’mon, kid don’t make me drag you outta there.” He awkwardly pats the seat in front of him. “You don’t really want to stay with a stinky old man like me do ya? The police are real nice guys.” Although Stan couldn’t remember a time they had been actually nice to him. “They’ll help you out.” 

“No!” She shook her head furiously, her eyes overflowing with tears. “I want to stay with you, Grunkle Stan!” 

The nickname made him pause. ‘Grunkle’? What an odd thing to call someone. But why did it feel like the name was somehow sacred? Why did it affect him so strongly?

Stan let out a deep sigh, closing his eyes and pinching his brow bone. Was he really willing to take care of a kid; he could barely take care of himself. He glanced back up at Mabel’s teary eyes.

He let out a frustrated groan before pushing himself to sit down beside her in the backseat and shut the door. 

Mabel and Stan sat together in silence. 

Stan cocked his head towards her. “You really don’t want to go in there.” He mumbled to her. 

Mabel shook her head in response. 

“And you don’t have anyone else to go to?”

She shook her head again. 

He turned his head towards her. “And you’d be willing to stay with stinky old me?”

She shakes her head up and down, a small smile splitting her face. 

“Man. your standards are real low” Stan chuckles to himself. 

“Looks like, you’re stuck with me then.” Stan turns to her, a similar smile on his face. 

Mabel scrambles across the seat cushions to give a tight hug around his chest. Stan lets out a small ‘oomph’ at the impact. 

“Ok, ok, kid, ‘nough of that sappy stuff” Stan pulls her off of him, setting her down next to him. 

“Well… I’m hungry, how about you? Howza ‘bout…” He looks out at the sun, seeing it’s way past morning.” brunch?” 

“Pancakes?” She asks tentatively, her eyebrows raising with her interest.

“Pancakes.” He continues with a serious look on his face. “But not too much, I’m not made out of money, ya know?”


End file.
